Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method connecting a flowline to a subsea wellhead assembly and, more particularly, to a flexible flowline connection that includes a cradle assembly for receiving flexible flowline thereacross to prevent the flowline from being bent in too short of a radius.
As oil and gas discoveries are made in deeper waters, there is a need for underwater flowline connection techniques that do not require divers and/or expensive specialized equipment. Specifically, in deeper waters, several remotely located wellhead assemblies provide their produced fluids to a central oil manifold on the seafloor or to an upper water production facility, such as a floating buoy or a fixed platform. The flowlines that connect such remote wellhead facilities can horizontally extend several miles in length.
In depths where divers cannot be utilized, it is extremely difficult to make horizontal connection of the flowline to the subsea wellhead. Various devices and methods have been developed in the past to permit the preferred and more easily accomplished vertical connection of the flowline to a subsea wellhead. Typical devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,373,807; 4,230,186; and 4,676,696. All of these patented devices use highly specialized and complex devices to permit the rotation and laying over of the flowline into a horizontal position. The utilization of these above methods have met with various success; however, they do require specially configured equipment. There is a need within the industry to lower equipment and installation costs; therefore, there is a need for a simplified flowline connection mechanism and method which does not require either divers or specialized equipment.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,220,477 and 4,400,110 both disclose flowline support mechanisms that prevent the flowline from being bent in too short of a radius. However, neither of these references disclose or suggest utilizing conventional guideline installation equipment to make a vertical connection to a conventional subsea wellhead assembly and utilizing a cradle assembly mounted to the subsea wellhead assembly to prevent undesired bending of the flowline.